Paragliding in a War Zone

"Paragliding in a War Zone works like a performance enhancing drug on the brain. Louise Wakeling turns poetry into an extreme pastime, a breathtaking bungee-jump into the unexpected, where Rimbaud and Leni Riefenstahl rub against pro-wrestlers and cane toad golf. Here are poems that shrewdly and eloquently explore the politics of sport—and of war—and push the rules of the greatest game of all, language.” — Peter Kirkpatrick

"Strong political commitment and wide-ranging cultural reference make Paragliding in a War Zone a rich and varied reading experience. Its preoccupations range dizzily from the war in Iraq to bungee-jumping, paragliding, mountaineering and the aesthetics of sport. Poems about traumatic historical events—such as the burning of the National Library in Baghdad—are juxtaposed with others which suggest flight, ascendance and liberation: metaphors resonate and interweave in a language which is powerful yet controlled.” — Hazel Smith

Louise Wakeling is a Sydney poet who has taught English and creative writing in university, colleges of TAFE, prisons and secondary schools. She has also published widely, including two novels, two volumes of poetry and many coedited and co-written works, among them an anthology of Australian poetry.